Vilches Alto and Santiago

Here’s the post about Vilches Alto that I promised you!

José (my host brother) decided that he would rather stay in Santiago for the weekend, so my host parents asked if Lea wanted to come with us. She did, and Friday night we left Santiago with the Pickup we drove (4h) south to Vilches Alto, which is near Talca in the mountains.

We were in the middle of the woods up in the mountains! There was a dirt road but you hardly ever heard cars, finally we were in nature again! You could breathe the fresh air and smell the amazing forest! In Chile it’s fall now, so the trees were colored and there were leaves all on the floor… When we got there at night you could see a gazillion starts and even some shooting stars.

The little old house belongs to Paula’s family, the tía (aunt) was there as well and flor, the niece. Both of them are super nice and Lea and I had a great time talking to the two! We had a really nice room too! It was entirely wood and it felt like a mixture of being back in my room in Switzerland and being in Lenk.

Saturday we slept in and then had a great breakfast on the balcony with the most AMAZING view you can imagine! Then we went on our first paseo, we hiked/walked along a trail and then later climbed down to a river. The whole thing felt a lot like the eagle creek national park (?) that we went to when I was in Portland.  I thought that after the amazing house and view there, there wasn’t a way of it getting any better – well it did – the only thing you could hear was the river, the sun was shining, the trees were soo pretty, we were in the middle of the forest down at a river… I could have stayed there forever but after a while we got hungry so we climbed back up the steep trail and then had a lunch at the house. Afterwards we went on another little walk, it was already getting dark and the moon was shining through the trees. At night we had another amazing view of the countless stars and then had a campfire! Lea and I were in charge of making chocolate fondue and everybody liked it – especially us!

first morning in Vilches Alto

our amazing little house

our room

first paseo

Laguna

night! : )

The next morning we had another breakfast with the amazing view and Lea and I ended up eating 3 times. : ) Then we went on our third and last walk, we walked through a forest over little tiny bridges and along huge trees and then suddenly the trees were gone on one side and there was a view – I know it’s hard to believe but this one was even better than the one from the house! You could see SO far! Afterwards we had a lunch back at the house and then left Vilches Alto in the evening. This was definitely one of my absolute favorite things I have gotten to do or see here in Chile!

vista

forest and nature!!

Lea, Flor and I

As it is getting colder and darker in Santiago because of winter, the rain is also starting to be more present, and like I’ve said before when it rains in Santiago it’s not a light drizzle – when it rains here you are bound to get soaking wet! One evening this week Lea and I ran outside because we are still not used to it just raining in Sanitago (I didn’t rain at all until two weeks ago!) – I’m pretty sure the two of us are some of the very, very few people here who actually enjoy the rain. : ) One of the amazing things about the rain though is that afterwards all of the smog is washed out of the air. You can almost breathe normally and you can see a lot farther as well! I will add some pictures where you can see the difference between a normal day and a day after rain.

in the first two pictures you can see the same 2 buildings (view from school) - 1 time with lots of smog and one without
the same thing in the second two pictures (Plaza Egaña on my way home)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

after rain

the car I'm learning to drive with

an article about Portland, OR in a magazine from Chile

raaain

Lea and I after rain! :D

This week the exchange students went to the memorial museum, it was really impressive to see all about what happened here when the military was in charge…

museo de la memoria

Afterwards we went to another one of the many parks in Santiago across the street from the museum.

park

Yesterday Lea and I went to the mall Plaza Egaña and she finally got to play some more piano again. I’m pretty sure one man filmed her playing and another one said ‘Gracias’ as he walked away after listening for a while. I always like to see how happy it makes Lea to play the piano again, but also the people around us who freeze and listen.

Other than that the weeks here are flying by - yes we are at school A LOT but at the same time the classes go by super-fast. I will miss the school here! It feels just like a big family, and there are always things to do. Another thing I will miss is the gymnastics – it’s tough but I like it that way! Mondays we always do floor (lots of aerial) and beam, Wednesdays floor and trampoline, and Fridays bars and vault (I’m finally doing my front handspring again! : ) ) I really like our coach Miya and I also like the other adults in the classes – some of them just started doing gymnastics now and I admire them for doing so. In Switzerland you always hear the same old, ‘you are too old to start gymnastics now’, but here you can start no matter what!

Well like I said the weeks are flying by and we only have another 4 weeks left of school! I remember when I had just started out here and now I’ve been here for 16 weeks!

How strange how fast time goes by sometimes!

Well although I’ll be sad to leave Chile I’m also excited to be back in Portland in July and then to be back in Switzerland in August!

Lena